Content:
Two phrases and images from this manuscript appear, slightly altered, in the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, in the poem that would later be titled "Song of Myself." The manuscript was therefore probably written before or early in 1855. In the manuscript Whitman has added the phrase "the timothy and the clover" to a description of plants growing in a field. On page 18 of the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
Whitman describes jumping from the crossbeams of a barn into the hay and says he will "seize the clover and timothy." Later in the manuscript he writes of "the buckwheat and its white tops and the bees that hum there all day," and on page 36 of the 1855
Leaves
he writes of the "white and brown buckwheat, a hummer and a buzzer there with the rest." A similar line concerning buckwheat and bees appeared in the poem "Come Up From the Fields Father," and a reference to "clover and timothy" appeared in "Give Me the Splendid Silent Sun." Both poems were first published in
Drum-Taps
in 1865. "Clover and timothy" also appears in the poem "The Return of the Heroes," which was first published in the 1881 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. On the reverse of this manuscript (nyp.00085) are poetic lines, one of which appeared in the poem ultimately titled "I Sing the Body Electric."
Whitman Archive Title: A Carol of Harvest, for 1867
Content:
The poem "A Carol of Harvest for
1867" was published first in
The Galaxy
, September 1867, and reprinted one month later in
Tinsely's Magazine
(London). A
revised version of the poem was added to
Passage to India
(1871). The 1881–82 edition of
Leaves of Grass
includes a further revised version
entitled "The Return of the
Heroes." These manuscript pages were likely revised prior to the poem's
first publication.
